Day 149: The Moonbase Episode 1

This story is set on Earth's Moon. It's odd that Doctor Who hasn't visited the Moon before, given that it forms one of the key focuses of 1960's science fiction is the Moon. After Kennedy stated that we were going to reach the Moon by the end of the decade (even if he won't) the Moon became the mystical place whereby all problems would be solved and we would have colonies set up there by the year 2000. And so, when we visit the Moon for the first time, it feels ridiculously familiar due to all of the associated tropes with the Moon. There's a base which is populated by members of various nationalities, all allied together to help humanity. There are also ridiculous spacesuits, low gravity and all seems to be exactly as we think it should be. And that's the problem with setting things on the Moon, because by doing so, the programme becomes slightly dated as a result. While the Moon still exists, and there are the odd missions to it every once in a while, it is generally accepted by the wider populace that we will not be sending colonies to there any time soon, and so the overwhelmingly optimistic days of the past are now being seen as just that, dreams of the future that can't exist today. Does that mean that these Moon adventures are worthless? No, because sometimes we need blind optimism to give us something to look forward to. And I'd take The Moonbase's ridiculous spacesuits over depressing dystopias any day of the week.